Mythologist Joseph Campbell analyzed fairy tales for clues about how the human psyche works. For example, he said that a fairy tale character who's riding a horse is a representation of our relationship with our instinctual nature. If that character drops the reins and lets the horse gallop without guidance, he or she is symbolically surrendering control to the instincts. I bring this to your attention because I suspect you may soon be tempted to do just that that -- which wouldn't be wise. In my opinion, you'll be best served by going against the flow of what seems natural. Sublimation and transcendence will keep you much stronger than if you followed the line of least resistance. Homework: Visualize yourself, as you ride your horse, keeping a relaxed but firm grasp of the reins.

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SACRED ADVERTISEMENT. The oracle below is from my book PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings.
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You don't have to tone down or apologize for your prowess, because you love it when other people shine. You exult in your own excellence without regarding it as a sign of inherent superiority. As you ripen more and more of your latent aptitude, you inspire the rest of us to claim our own idiosyncratic magnificence.

You're a star -- and so am I. My success encourages your brilliance, and vice versa. Your charisma enhances my power -- and vice versa.

I will provide you with two lists of words. One of these lists, but not both, will characterize the nature of your predominant experiences in the coming weeks. It will be mostly up to you which emerges as the winner. Now read the two lists, pick the one you like better, and instruct your subconscious mind to lead you in that direction. List 1: gluttony, bloating, overkill, padding, exorbitance. List 2: mother lode, wellspring, bumper crop, gold mine, cornucopia.

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Where do you want to go? Who do you want to be? For more clues, tune in to your EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPE.

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SACRED ADVERTISEMENT. The oracle below is from my book PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings.
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Life is a vast and intricate conspiracy designed to keep us well-supplied with blessings. What kind of blessings? Ten million dollars, a gorgeous physique, a perfect marriage, a luxurious home, and high status? Maybe.

But just as likely: interesting surprises, dizzying adventures, gifts you hardly know what to do with, and conundrums that dare you to get smarter. Novelist William Vollman referred to the latter types of blessings when he said that "the most important and enjoyable thing in life is doing something that's a complicated, tricky problem for you that you don't know how to solve."

The Christian writer C. S. Lewis said: "I thank God that He hasn't given me all the things I've prayed for, because as I look back now I realize it would have been disastrous to have received some of them." Pronoia provides the boons and prods your soul needs, not necessarily those your ego craves.

Pronoia doesn't promise uninterrupted progress forever. It's not a slick commercial for a perfect summer day that never ends. Grace emerges in the ebb and flow, not just the flow. The waning reveals a different kind of blessing than the waxing.

But whether it's our time to ferment in the valley of shadows or rise up singing in the sun-splashed meadow, fresh power to transform ourselves is always on the way. Our suffering won't last, nor will our triumph. Without fail, life will deliver the creative energy we need to change into the new thing we must become.

In his poem "Interrupted Meditation," Robert Hass blurts out the following exclamation: "I give you, here, now, a magic key. What does it open? This key I give you, what exactly does it open?" How would you answer this question, Gemini? What door or lock or heart or treasure box do you most need opened? Decide today. And please don't name five things you need opened. Choose one, and one only. To do so will dissolve a mental block that has up until now kept you from finding the REAL magic key.

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SACRED ADVERTISEMENT. The oracle below is from my book PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings.
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"If you're really listening, if you're awake to the poignant beauty of the world, your heart breaks regularly. In fact, your heart is made to break; its purpose is to burst open again and again so that it can hold ever-more wonders."

-Andrew Harvey, The Return of the Mother

The following excerpt from Wendell Berry's poem "Woods" captures the essence of your current situation: "I part the out-thrusting branches and come in beneath the blessed and the blessing trees. Though I am silent there is singing around me. Though I am dark there is vision around me. Though I am heavy there is flight around me." Please remember this poem at least three times a day during the next two weeks. It's important for you to know that no matter what murky or maudlin or mysterious mood you might be in, you are surrounded by vitality and generosity.

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SACRED ADVERTISEMENT. The oracle below is from my book PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings.
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"To feel the love of people whom we love is a fire that feeds our life. But to feel the affection that comes from those we do not know, from those unknown to us, who are watching over our sleep and solitude, over our dangers and our weakness -- that is something still greater and more beautiful because it widens the boundaries of our being, and unites all living things."

-Pablo Neruda, The Book of Virtues

A half-dead blast from the past is throttling the free flow of your imagination. Your best possible future will be postponed until you agree to deal more intimately with this crumbled dream, which you have never fully grieved or surrendered. So here's my advice: Summon the bravest, smartest love you're capable of, and lay your sad loss to rest with gentle ferocity. This may take a while, so be patient. Be inspired by the fact that your new supply of brave, smart love will be a crucial resource for the rest of your long life.

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SACRED ADVERTISEMENT. The oracle below is from my book PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings.
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"We live in a world of theophanies. Holiness comes wrapped in the ordinary. There are burning bushes all around you. Every tree is full of angels. Hidden beauty is waiting in every crumb. Life wants to lead you from crumbs to angels, but this can happen only if you are willing to unwrap the ordinary by staying with it long enough to harvest its treasure."

-Macrina Wiederkehr

Five times every day, devout Muslims face their holiest city, Mecca, and say prayers to Allah. Even if you're not Islamic, I recommend that you carry out your own unique version of this ritual. The next three weeks will be a favorable time to cultivate a closer relationship with the inspirational influence, the high ideal, or the divine being that reigns supreme in your life. Here's how you could do it: Identify a place that excites your imagination and provokes a sense of wonder. Five times a day for the next 21 days, bow in the direction of this treasured spot. Unleash songs, vows, and celebratory expostulations that deepen your fierce and tender commitment to what you trust most and love best.

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SACRED ADVERTISEMENT. The oracle below is from my book PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings.
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"Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement . . . get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible. Never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed."

- Abraham Joshua Heschel, Jewish theologian and civil rights activist

"The road reaches every place, the short cut only one," says aphorist James Richardson. In many cases, that's not a problem. Who among us has unlimited time and energy? Why leave all the options open? Short cuts can be valuable. It's often smart to be ruthlessly efficient as we head toward our destination. But here's a caveat: According to my analysis of the astrological omens, you're now in a phase when taking short cuts may be counterproductive. To be as well-seasoned as you will need to be to reach your goal, you should probably take the scenic route. The long way around may, in this instance, be the most efficient and effective.

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I hope the oracle above provides you with the inspiration you need to do what you've got to do and change what needs to be changed. But if you need more clues, listen to your EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPE, where I go further in exploring your mysteries.

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SACRED ADVERTISEMENT. The oracle below is from my book PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings.
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"The whole world is a series of miracles, but we’re so used to seeing them that we call them ordinary things."

- Hans Christian Andersen

"Truth is like the flu," says poet James Richardson. "I fight it off, but it changes in other bodies and returns in a form to which I am not immune." In the coming days, Scorpio, I suspect you will experience that riddle first hand -- and probably on more than one occasion. Obvious secrets and wild understandings that you have fought against finding out will mutate in just the right way to sneak past your defenses. Unwelcome insights you've been trying to ignore will finally wiggle their way into your psyche. Don't worry, though. These new arrivals will be turn out to be good medicine.

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SACRED ADVERTISEMENT. The oracle below is from my book PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings.
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"I became aware of the world’s tenderness, the profound beneficence of all that surrounded me, the blissful bond between me and all of creation, and I realized that the joy I sought in you was not only secreted within you, but breathed around me everywhere, in the speeding street sounds, in the hem of a comically lifted skirt, in the metallic yet tender drone of the wind, in the autumn clouds bloated with rain.

"I realized that the world does not represent a struggle at all, or a predaceous sequence of chance events, but the shimmering bliss, beneficent trepidation, a gift bestowed upon us and unappreciated."

- Vladimir Nabokov

According to Guinness World records, the most consecutive hours spent riding on a roller coaster is 405 hours and 40 minutes. But I suspect that during the next 15 months, a Sagittarian daredevil may exceed this mark. I have come to this conclusion because I believe your tribe will be especially adept and relatively comfortable at handling steep rises and sudden dips at high speeds. And that won't be the only rough talent you'll have in abundance. I'm guessing you could also set new personal bests in the categories of most frequent changes of mind, most heroic leaps of faith, and fastest talking.

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SACRED ADVERTISEMENT. The oracle below is from my book PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings.
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Aldous Huxley was the renowned 20th-century intellectual who wrote the book Brave New World, a dystopian vision of the future. Later in his life he came to regret one thing: how "preposterously serious" he had been when he was younger. "There are quicksands all about you, sucking at your feet," he ruminated, "trying to suck you down into fear and self-pity and despair. That’s why you must walk so lightly. Lightly, my darling . . . Learn to do everything lightly. Yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply."

Whether we like to admit it or not, all of us have acted like puppets. Bosses and teachers and loved ones can manipulate us even if they're not in our presence. Our conditioned responses and programmed impulses may control our behavior in the present moment even though they were formed long ago. That's the bad news. The good news is that now and then moments of lucidity blossom, revealing the puppet strings. We emerge from our unconsciousness and see that we're under the spell of influential people to whom we have surrendered our power. This is one of those magic times for you, Capricorn.

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What exactly are you looking for? How would you describe the experiences you want more than anything else? It's possible my EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPE could give you additional help in figuring that out.

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SACRED ADVERTISEMENT. The oracle below is from my book PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings.
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You don’t have to be anything you don’t want to be. You don’t have to live up to anyone’s expectations. There’s no need to strive for a kind of perfection that’s not very interesting to you. You don’t have to believe in ideas that make you sad or tormented, and you don’t have to feel emotions that others try to manipulate you into feeling.

A few weeks ago you undertook a new course of study in the art of fun and games. You realized you hadn't been playing hard enough, and took measures to correct the problem. After refamiliarizing yourself with the mysteries of innocent joy, you raised the stakes. You began dabbling with more intensive forms of relief and release. Now you have the chance to go even further: to explore the mysteries of experimental delight. Exuberant escapades may become available to you. Amorous adventures could invite you to explore the frontiers of liberated love. Will you be brave and free enough to meet the challenge of such deeply meaningful gaiety? Meditate on this radical possibility: spiritually adept hedonism.

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SACRED ADVERTISEMENT. The oracle below is from my book PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings.
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When you're an aspiring master of pronoia, you see the cracks in the facades as opportunities; inspiration erupts as you careen over bumps in the road; you love the enticing magic that flows from situations that other people regard as rough or crooked.

"That which is not slightly distorted lacks sensible appeal," wrote poet Charles Baudelaire, "from which it follows that irregularity -- that is to say, the unexpected, surprise and astonishment -- is an essential part and characteristic of beauty."

Poet Sharon Dolin compares artists to sunflowers. They create "a tall flashy flower that then grows heavy with seeds whose small hard shells you must crack to get to the rich nut meat." As I contemplate the current chapter of your unfolding story, I see you as being engaged in a similar process, even if you're not literally an artist. To be exact, you're at the point when you are producing a tall flashy flower. The seeds have not yet begun to form, but they will soon. Later this year, the rich nut meat inside the small hard shells will be ready to pluck. For now, concentrate on generating your gorgeous, radiant flower.

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SACRED ADVERTISEMENT. The oracle below is from my book PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings.
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The phrase "new roses" can serve as an antidote to neurosis -- as a kind of magical spell. You might invoke it when you're in danger of getting undermined by either your own neurosis or someone else's.

If you notice, for instance, that your subconscious mind is spiraling down into a sour fantasy stirred up by one of your habitual fears, you could mutter a cheerful round of "new roses, new roses, new roses."

If your allies slip into the same compulsive behavior that they tend to get stuck in whenever stress overflows, you could chant "new roses, new roses, new roses" in a tuneful, affectionate tone.